Vietnam Airlines to Launch London Link

As exclusively revealed by The HUB last month, Vietnam Airlines is to inaugurate flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to London this winter, although no firm decision has yet been taken if it will serve Heathrow or Gatwick airport. In an interview with Routes TV at this year’s Routes Asia regional event in Incheon, South Korea on March 28, the airline’s Manager, General Planning, Vu Huy Linh outlined the proposed European growth. Vietnam Airlines has subsequently confirmed that it will initially offer four flights per week using a Boeing 777-200ER but plans to increase this to a daily schedule by 2014.

As the table below illustrates, the UK is currently the largest O&D market from Vietnam that is not currently served by the airline. It already serves Paris CDG and Frankfurt and Moscow Domodedovo from both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, while Air France, Aeroflot Russian Airlines and Vladivostok Air boost capacity in the French and Russian markets. LOT Polish Airlines is the only other European carrier to provide links to Vietnam with a twice weekly service to Hanoi from its Warsaw hub.

The number of people travelling between the UK and Vietnam is increasing, according to visitor statistics, with an estimated 90,000 making the journey in 2010, up 28 per cent on the previous year. Official data shows an O&D market of an estimated 83,000 passengers between the two countries with traffic mainly routing via Bangkok with Thai Airways International, Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore with Singapore Airlines. Alongside business and leisure travellers there are around 40,000 Vietnamese people living and working in Britain, and 7,000 students studying in the country, adding further VFR traffic.

"There is great potential for the air travel market between our two countries that warrant direct links," said Pham Ngoc Minh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vietnam Airlines, during a visit to London last week. There is also potential to develop new links from the UK to countries such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia via Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

It is understood that Vietnam Airlines will initially offer two flights per week from Hanoi and two from Ho Chi Minh City and has selected Heathrow as its preferred London gateway, but has yet to secure the necessary slots at the airport. As a member of the SkyTeam global alliance there is every chance that it may be able to secure slots from one of its partners with Air France or KLM perhaps giving up some of their own.

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